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April 26th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
Recently posted on social media, a
doorbell camera recorded video footage of a California police officer throwing
an autistic teenager to the ground before punching him in the face.
Around 2:30 p.m. on April 21, a
Vacaville resident’s Ring security system captured footage
of a police officer approaching a 17-year-old boy with autism and ADHD. The
officer ordered the teen to sit on the sidewalk, and the boy immediately
complied.
While violently throwing the
child’s scooter against the sidewalk, the officer ordered the teen to sit with
his legs straight. After the officer suddenly reached towards the boy to grab
him, the teen moved back in fear.
As the cop appeared to retrieve an
object from his gun belt, the boy attempted to flee. The officer instantly
shoved him to the ground before punching him in the face.
“You punched me in the fucking
head,” the boy cried.
“You’re gonna get hurt,” the
officer can be heard saying in the video. “Don’t make me hurt you more. Don’t
make me hurt you more.”
On Friday, Vacaville’s Acting
Police Chief Ian Schmutzler released the following statement:
“We are scouring the dispatch recordings, body-worn camera video, Ring camera
video, and any other visual or audio evidence we can find. I’m working with the
leadership within the City of Vacaville and there will be more information
provided very soon. Multiple people have asked if the arresting officer knew
that the suspect had special needs. In the dispatch audio, there is a
conversation between a dispatcher and a different officer, who was not on the
scene, who asked whether the suspect was (the unnamed teen).
“Our preliminary review of the
available video and radio traffic indicates the arresting officer did not have
prior knowledge that the suspect was an individual with special needs. We are
in the process of confirming the time stamps of those various sources so we
have an accurate timeline of the events of the incident.”
On Thursday, the teen’s father,
Adam Wolf, posted the video to Facebook and wrote, “On
April 21st at approximately 2:30 pm Preston was Aggressively approached by a
Vacaville, California police officer. The officer screamed at him to sit down
which he did. The officer then moved Aggressively toward my son, threw his
scooter and got in his face. My son became fearful, as would any child with
Autism. The officer went to touch Preston, at which point Preston moves away.
At this point, Preston was confused and afraid and moves away from the officer
even more. At that point the officer felt it was a good idea to THROW Preston
to the ground. Once on the ground, the officer climbed on top of Preston and
PUNCHED him in the face. All of this was witnessed by multiple neighbors and
caught on video. In the video you can hear Preston telling the officer to ‘call
his parents’. I don’t believe that Preston will ever trust a police officer
again. I am pro police, but I am not pro ABUSE! This individual and department
must be held accountable for their actions. NO child, disability or not,
deserves to be treated like this.”
During
a recent interview with KTXL,
Wolf said that his son was playing at a nearby creek when he defended himself
with a piece of metal from another boy who reportedly started a fight with
Wolf’s son. The other teenage boy suffered minor injuries, and his family
reportedly chose not to press charges.
Josh Bartholomew, who recorded the incident on his Ring security system, told KTXL, “I heard screaming and
yelling. I came out of the house, I stood right there and that’s when I saw the
officer actually strike Preston in the face. According to Bartholomew, he told
several officers who were pinning the teen to the ground that he had special
needs.
Bartholomew added, “The officer at
that time had the opportunity to deescalate the situation, and he chose to
escalate the situation in a manner that resulted in Preston, in my opinion,
being assaulted.”
Police officials have confirmed
that the officer in the video has been placed on administrative leave pending
an investigation in the arrest.
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